The origin of Peaches
by MISCrasyaboutfanfics
Summary: Sequel to Peaches' stories. My Autobot Pretender OC has found out who her Cybertronian creators are. How will everyone else react? Also includes flashbacks in later chapters.
1. Back to base plus unread message

Back to base

Disclaimer: I only own Peaches, Abby, Crystal and Snowball. Any other OCs mentioned here belong to their respectful owners, the Transformers belong to Hasbro, and the song belongs to whoever owns it.

After a week, Peaches had returned from the mini-mission to provide aid to the tornado-stricken areas in the U.S. She was now in her robot mode sitting down, holding the now five month old human infant Abby and the two month old sparkling Crystal while at the computer in her family's quarters on NEST base. Sideways had been "forced" to play in tonight's video game tournament and knew that his sparkmate would be okay…physically anyways.

Though still upset about the passing away of her cousin Seth, Peaches wasn't feeling as bad as before. She was feeling slightly better knowing that there were worse ways any of her relatives could have died. She then started wondering, why was it that she didn't have a tattoo or something that marked her as part of a specific Cybertronian clan, like Optimus had to show that he was a member of the Dynasty of Primes? Who were her Cybertronian creators? She knew it was not likely that they were online but if the Pretender could only figure out who they were, regardless of whether they were important figures in Autobot history or not. She wasn't going to ask out loud because no one else on base had been able to answer it before. Ratchet had run tests long ago to confirm that "biologically" for lack of a better term, Peaches wasn't related to any other Cybertron, sans Crystal ; there was also her bond with Sideways and of course Abby who still counted even though she was adopted. That was it.

Peaches turned towards the door to see Jolt walking in. "Hey Peach, Sideways is getting creamed by Sideswipe in Halo and he wants you to be in the room cheering him on."

"No thanks man. I'm not in the mood and I don't do video games." The red and orange femme replied.

"What's wrong?" Jolt asked, with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Not much; just thinking again. I wish I did know which clan I had belonged to on Cybertron. Ratchet never had time to look at the markings on the stasis pod that my human parents had found me in, besides the ones that were printing the message 'please take care of our child as if she were your own' and everything else that was said with it." Peaches sighed. "Maybe Optimus would know but I can't bother him with that; he's leader and has way too much to do already."

"I think you need to get your mind off of this; go cheer on Sideways, I'll take care of Abby and Crystal." The blue Autobot insisted as he took the human child and Cybertronian sparklings and shoved Peaches out the door.

"Gee, you're such a great friend." Peaches said sarcastically, as she walked down the hallway towards the main room. As she entered it, she heard Sideways shouting with a lot of enthusiasm.

"Yes! I'm finally creaming you!" the ex-Decepticon shouted.

"Oh you're just as bad as my brother when he gloats." Sideswipe replied, clearly unimpressed by the whole thing.

"Hey!" Sunstreaker shouted.

Peaches sat down on the couch next to the mechs, and looked around; it was just Arcee, Flareup, and Auri as well as some humans who were also watching the "tournament". Everyone else was either on duty in another part of the base, on patrol, or on a mission. The Pretender knew that Optimus was currently doing a Skype meeting with Galloway, the U.S. president, and a few other world leaders. He didn't need to be bothered with anything. She convincingly seemed to watch the two players, occasionally shouting "Come on Sideways, you're doing great!"

Finally when the round was over, everyone was cheering as Sideways won and opted to go against Sunstreaker next. Peaches took the opportunity to sneak out and into the room where the stasis pod she had traveled in as a not yet "born" sparkling was. She once again read the message that had been left for whoever would find her, in this case her human parents, and let a few tears flow freely before finding something else; it was a very small inscription that Ratchet and Optimus had probably missed when they first looked at the Cyber-glyphs on the pod, and then Peaches began reading it. Translated into English, it said:

_To our daughter is this message: do what you think is right, don't be ashamed of where you really came from if you ever find out, and always know that we love you and haven't stopped just because we're no longer with you. As you grow up, please remember that we may never know the reason why certain things happen the way they do but whatever the reason is, it had to be a good one. Love-_

Peaches stopped reading, then looked again at the names: Slipstream and Thundercracker. She immediately got onto her computer and looked up the two names; they had been two of the most deadly Decepticons in Megatron's army, and had been tasked with raising the hatchlings that were to be the newer recruits but both had become dissatisfied and were reported to have "launched an unusual object towards the stars" just moments before being killed by a squadron of Autobots.

"My parents were-the enemy?"

The Pretender was so shocked that she fainted. There was no way this could be true, absolutely no way…

Sideways had opted to stop playing in the video game tournament and look for Peaches. He knew that Jolt was watching his daughters and that they would be fine. He just couldn't stop worrying about his sparkmate until he knew she was okay. He walked into the room that had an open door, then saw Peaches on the floor. He gently shook her "Peaches, can you hear me?"

Peaches stirred a little bit and mumbled something sounding like "how could they miss that? How could they miss that?"

"Miss what?" Sideways asked, suddenly curious about what the orange and red Autobot was dreaming of.

Peaches optic sensors immediately activated and she simply said in an attempt to hide the emotion in her voice "Read the small letters."

He had to squint but the ex-'Con was able to read it, photograph it, and then help Peaches back to their quarters. Sideways then put the image on the computer and enlarged it. "Peaches, you shouldn't be upset-"

"Is that why I was attracted to you? Because I was originally going to have to be on the same side as you were?" Peaches screamed angrily. "How could Optimus and Ratchet not be able to read that? What the hell were my creators thinking?"

"Peach calm down and don't scare the kids." Sideways said as he took Abby and Crystal back from Jolt, who promptly left the room when the first of the two mechs explained that the Pretender would be all right after she "let it out" as humans would often say in this type of situation or something similar to it, and then he sat down on the berth with the two younglings.

Peaches sighed sadly. "I'm sorry; it's just that I don't' know who to tell next about it. You didn't tell Jolt the whole thing and I don't want anyone to think I'm a traitor since I would never leave the Autobots even if you were still on the opposite side of the war."

"Peaches, you're not perfect, you never will be and you can't overreact about that fact. I still love you anyway." Sideways replied in an attempt to keep her calm long enough to be rational.

"Prove it." The Pretender insisted.

The ex-Decepticon started singing

**Her eyes, her eyes, make the stars look they're not shining**

**Her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her trying**

**She's so beautiful and I tell her everyday**

**Yeah, I know I know**

**When I compliment her she wont believe me**

**And it's so it's so**

**Sad to think that she dont see what I see**

**But every time she asks me do I look ok**

**I say **

**When I see your face**

**There's not a thing that I would change**

**'Cause you're amazing**

**Just the way you are**

**And when you smile**

**The whole world stops and stares for a while**

**'Cause girl you're amazing**

**Just the way you are**

Peaches had tears flowing down her face again, this time they were tears of relief and happiness. She couldn't believe that anyone would think that about her but of course she wouldn't have chosen Sideways as a sparkmate if he wasn't telling the truth.

**Her lips her lips**

**I could kiss them all day if she'd let me**

**Her laugh her laugh**

**She hates but I think it's so sexy**

**She's so beautiful**

**And I tell her every day**

**Oh you know you know you know**

**I'd never ask you to change**

**If perfect's what you're searching for**

**Then just stay the same**

**So don't even bother asking**

**If you look ok**

**You know I'll say**

Sideways kept singing that song that he thought described his orange and red femme very well even though he might not have had the best singing voice compared to how he sounded when he was speaking to everyone. Then again, he didn't care about that. When he was done, he noticed that Abby and Crystal were both asleep and that the dog Snowball was whining to be let out.

"Okay." Sideways put both the infant and the sparkling into their cribs then took Snowball out so that she wouldn't leave a mess for himself or Peaches to clean up. Soon he was back in and giving Peaches a hug.

"Do you really think that about me or were you just singing that to get me to calm down?" the Pretender asked, now calmed down.

"The first reason is it." The bluish mech replied reassuringly. "Nothing will ever change that no matter what anybody knows or doesn't know about you."

Both dimmed the lights in the room, to avoid either of their two girls screaming out of fear of the dark, and then got into their berth. Sideways did not care that he automatically forfeited the video game tournament; he could always play again later on but he could not always just ignore any feelings that he had whenever he somehow got the sensation that something was happening to Peaches or his daughters. He couldn't help wondering just a little bit about how everyone else was going to react to this recent revelation about his sparkmate's origins; he knew that he couldn't control their reactions and knew that it wouldn't matter if anyone passed out then and there just as they had when Peaches had revealed that she had been dating him. Sideways decided not to worry right then; he needed a good recharge after all and was determined to get it…

Author's note: Yeah I don't know how I got this idea but I do want to write out the whole story. If I don't finish it before seeing Transformers: Dark of the Moon, then I'll incorporate the movie storyline in somehow and how Peaches reacts to everything that happens then. 15 days until I actually see it but hey, I think it will be worth the wait...


	2. Flashbacks and telling someone the story

Flashbacks and telling someone the story

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs Peaches, Ashley, Crystal, Abby and Snowball. Auri belongs to Cairistona and any other OCs mentioned belong to the authors who own them. I do not own Transformers.

The next morning, Peaches was out of recharge. She immediately went to the wash racks and was surprised to see Optimus and Elita already there, waiting for the water to be fixed and talking to each other.

"Good morning." Peaches said, trying to act like she was cheerful but not sure if she was doing a good job.

"Good morning Peaches." Elita replied. "The humans will have the plumbing fixed soon so we won't have to wait too long."

"I know but you and Optimus can go first. I can wait a little bit longer." The Pretender insisted. She tried not to let the confusion she was feeling right now show on her face.

"Peaches, are you all right?" Optimus asked her.

Peaches immediately tried her best to lie. "Yes, I'm fine-just glad that no one had a party for me or anything after I came back. Not that it matters since my birthday isn't for another 3 days."

"Sideways already told us what happened." Elita explained in a gentle but firm tone that assured the Pretender that everything was fine but at the same time was an "I don't believe your story"-voice. "We almost didn't believe him and the story about Slipstream and Thundercracker is skeptical at best since only one Autobot reported seeing those 2 launching anything and that event supposedly took place before Optimus had to launch the AllSpark into space. Ratchet wants to do some tests on you later to see if this isn't a legend after all."

"I know it doesn't matter if they're offline but still…" Peaches sighed.

"Peaches, you need to get lessons from Sideways or Barricade if you want to successfully lie not that I ever want you to do so." Optimus stated firmly. "Sideways did not tell anyone else besides Elita, Ratchet and myself."

Soon someone was coming up a nearby staircase form the basement. It was Ashley, Peaches' human friend, who was a Jack, or rather Jill, of all trades hence her work as NEST's "everywoman" as her civilian job description. Ashley had been wearing a pair of old jeans, ripped sneakers, and a stained t-shirt while downstairs; those along with the rest of her were soaking wet. "It took some time to actually get the water off and get the pipes unclogged but everything should be fixed now." The human woman said.

"Thank you Ashley." Optimus said, as Ashley went to change her clothes to go work in the vegetable gardens.

Peaches waited while Optimus and Elita used the washracks for what seemed like forever or maybe it was half an hour but she guessed that they were doing something more than bathing. She knew that all too well; Sideways had once gone in there and had shamelessly played dirty with her much to her amusement and chagrin. Then again, Optimus Prime was leader and he deserved his privacy despite that. The Pretender stopped trying to guess what they were really doing as both the Autobot leader and his sparkmate finally walked out and Elita said "Go ahead Peaches."

Peaches immediately walked in after nervously muttering "thank you" and finally got her "shower" so to speak. She washed herself off and dried then went out to get some energon; her only duty today was to take some of her teammates' reports to Prowl's office. She couldn't chat with Auri until later though much to her disappointment. Maybe when she gets off her shift, Peaches thought, as she got reports from several Autobots and humans and then headed to where she needed to take them. She didn't like going to anyone's office and could the rest of the day get any worse…

Auri was working nonstop like the PeopleMover ride at Walt Disney World when Peaches walked in, carrying a ridiculously huge pile of reports that were almost as tall as she was. Why those morons not know that they can't procrastinate I'll never know, the Pretender thought.

"Let me help you with that please Peaches." Auri said, grabbing a chunk of them from the bottom of the pile.

That took Peaches by surprise. She quickly grabbed onto the ones she still had but most of them fell of the top of the pile and the Pretender tried and failed to put the rest of them on the desk without slipping on the floor. Now the whole place was a mess and the orange and red femme had been thinking of how it took a ridiculously long time to get to use the washracks, what she found out last night and the fact that she had to go to the medbay in two hours for the tests that Ratchet needed to run. That was the last straw.

"Auri, you idiot!" Peaches yelled angrily, almost sounding like Timmy on the human cartoon _The Fairly Oddparents_. "You're not supposed to grab stuff from the bottom of the pile because then this happens!" She kicked the data pads and papers and stomped out muttering, "God damn it."

"Peaches, you get back here." Someone else said.

Peaches sighed and turned around. She saw that it was Prowl, and tried her best not to swear. "It's not my fault." She argued, as she went back to help Auri pick up and rearrange the reports so that all of the pages were in the right order on each of them.

"Peaches, I'm sorry-"Auri started to say, letting a few tears run down her face.

"I don't believe that!' the Pretender yelled, as she got down and picked up some data pads. "Don't talk to me, damn it, don't talk to me."

Prowl sighed. Peaches was supposed to be almost 19 years old in human years and yet here she was acting like she was a teenager all over again, or maybe a few years younger. He immediately pushed that out of his mind before he could overload his processor.

Peaches and Auri finished cleaning up the mess about an hour and a half later, and the former stomped out of the room.

"What is with you?" Barricade asked when he saw her.

"None of your beeswax! Go play some video game with Tai and leave me alone!" the Pretender snapped as she passed him.

Peaches went into her room and slammed the door. Luckily, Sideways had taken Abby and Crystal outside and Snowball was out in the dog play area so she knew she was completely alone. Let them come look for me, she thought, I don't want to tell the rest of them what's going on…

About 25 minutes later, Ironhide blasted the door down. Peaches knew he was pissed and that Auri had probably told him what happened earlier. "I didn't mean to say that to her. I'm having a bad day and -"she started to say, looking like she would sweat if she could.

"You better apologize to her after Ratchet's done with you." Ironhide ordered in a threatening tone of voice.

Peaches immediately ran out of the room, not caring that she'd have to get the door fixed later. She waited until she was out of Ironhide's sight, then she screamed various curse words in both English and Cybertronian at her creators, her human parents, and the Decepticons. All this while continuing to the medbay to get those scans and tests completed not that she really wanted to see Ratchet; she knew if she blew up at him, there would be wrenches and other tools, possibly furniture as well, being thrown at her.

"Peaches calm down." The medic said when he saw her walking into the medbay and heard her screaming profanity.

"How can I? I tried and failed to lie to Optimus, upset Auri, which pissed off Ironhide and I need to get the door fixed and I don't know what to think about myself anymore." The Pretender sighed, finally not shouting anymore.

Ratchet wasn't sure of what to say; he had already looked at the photo that Sideways had taken and had used microscopic lenses to look at that inscription and read it for himself and had a note that the ex-'Con had been ordered to deliver from Thundercracker to Megatron the day that the attack happened; he never had. The medic knew what Peaches' handwriting looked like; he and Jazz had taught her how to write in Cybertronian and it did look very similar to that 'con's penmanship. Of course, he needed a bit more evidence than that to find more proof that Peaches was indeed related to those two. "Lie down and I'll get started with the scans." He said.

Peaches lay down on the examination table, trying to relax but mostly getting anxious. She heard Ratchet say that Sideways had gotten a hold of files that contained samples of Thundercracker's and Slipstream's programming. "How did he do that?" the Pretender asked.

"Megatron never deleted Sideways' access to those things when the latter left and moved in with you." Ratchet answered. "Sideways had these samples in subspace for the longest time and forgot about them until last night."

Peach was no longer angry at anybody; she didn't care that Sideways had once been some "messenger boy" for those two for lack of a better term but she did care to know if they really were her creators. Was the answer yes or no? She sat up when Ratchet told her he needed to take an energon sample in order to compare it. When he gave her the shot, Peaches only cringed a little bit then screamed for about 2 seconds.

"It was not that bad; you're acting like a sparkling." The medic pointed out.

"Oh, Crystal screams longer than that whenever she gets a shot." Peaches argued, laughing despite the seriousness of the whole thing.

"It might take a few hours for me to have any results from these tests due to a number of things that make Pretenders such as yourself or Alice much different than other Cybertronians." Ratchet said, after he himself had laughed a bit at what the orange and red femme said. "Don't worry; I will let you know when I have the results."

Peaches simply said "thank you" and walked out. She had to find Auri and apologize to her…

"Basically I was having a bad day and I shouldn't have taken it out on you." The Pretender was explaining to the smaller 'bot later on in the nearly empty rec room. "I'm sorry for yelling; I guess I'm too much of a perfectionist most of the time and I've forgiven you."

"I forgive you too." Auri replied, as she gave the Pretender a hug. "What was it that caused your day to go wrong?"

Peaches explained it, shocking the younger femme just a little bit, then said "You know I'd like to tell you the more detailed version of how I became part of the NEST team. That is, if you want to hear it."

"You'll really tell me that?" Auri was now interested.

'Yes; it's going to be like the Arabian nights stories." The Pretender replied. "What I mean by that is that I'm going to tell part of the story one night, then the next part the night after then so on and so forth until the story's done. The only difference is I'm not doing it to save my life; I'm doing it because I want to."

"Oh, okay." Auri said, after looking up the reference that was unfamiliar at first. She then sat down on the couch and the Pretender sat next to her, ready to start the story.

"Once upon a time there was a married couple, or bonded as we would put it. They wanted to have a child but were not able to. One night the wife made a wish on a shooting star while walking with her husband…" Peaches began telling the story as though it were a human fairy tale.

(19 years ago)

In the night sky, a burst of yellow light that was definitely not the sun was shooting through the sky, headed towards the surface of the planet Earth. It was really some kind of alien object with weird symbols on it and a dark gray color. It landed in the middle of a forest where a couple was walking. The two humans cautiously approached it, not sure of what it was.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith were as normal as any other humans; he had blonde hair and blue eyes and she had brown hair instead. Both were wearing shorts and t-shirts as it was a summer night as well as sneakers.

Mr. Jacob Derrick Smith was the first to approach the unusual object. He had always been interested in sci-fi and believed that aliens did exist. Jake, as he was called, was nuts for thinking that according to his wife Ellen, but didn't seem to mind that anyone would think that. He knew that even if the possibility was small, the universe was big and Earth couldn't be the only world out there that supported life.

Mrs. Ellen Geraldine Smith was not one who wanted to deal with anything unusual but knew that there had to be some truth to the saying "opposites attract" or she would not have married the man who watched way too many movies about extraterrestrials. She hadn't believed in love at first sight before meeting Jake and certainly could not believe what she was seeing right now.

"Honey, you're not crazy. I'm seeing the same thing you are." Jake said when he saw her trying to rub her eyes.

"I know but still-" Ellen was cut off as a light burst forth, cracking the unusual object like an egg and knocking bot herself and her husband over. The light then engulfed the two of them for a few seconds then disappeared.

The two humans got up just in time to look in that "pod" as a silver liquid form turned to that of a human baby.

(Present day)

"That's how my parents told me that part of the story; how they found me that is." Peaches said.

"How did you get the name 'Peaches'?" Auri asked, a bit confused about the whole thing

"I got that as a nickname later on; my dad came up with my first human name, Paige, because finding me was like turning the page of a book to the next chapter." The older femme answered. "My mom gave me the middle name 'Kathleen' after my human grandmother on her side; said grandmother died the year before so I didn't get to know her."

"Then what?" the pink and orange 'bot questioned.

"Well, my dad forged a few things so that no one would suspect him or my mom of anything then I was part of the family and growing up like every other human." The Pretender smiled as she started getting nostalgic and thinking of the things she had liked as a child. "Despite that, I knew I somehow just didn't fit in; one thing is I never got my period when I became a teenager and didn't get sick and stay home from school. Not even with the chicken pox. It was my last year of high school just this past year when I found out the truth about who and what I was."

"Peaches, Auri needs to recharge now." Arcee said as she walked in and found those two talking.

'Aw, but the story was getting so good." Auri pouted a little.

"Don't worry; I'll tell you more tomorrow." Peaches replied. "Right now, I need some more energon and Ratchet needs to tell me those test results; he just sent me a message saying he had them."

The femmes bid each other good night and the Pretender walked back down to the medbay, a bit anxious and extremely worried about what Ratchet would have to say to her. She started feeling sad about her human parents and started remembering when they explained death to her…

(Flashback, 2003)

"Dad, why are we stopping here on our way to see Aunt Regina, Uncle Nathan, and Cousin Jackie?" 11 year old Peaches asked. She was in the white Ford pickup truck that her dad owned. She was in the back seat and her mother and father were in the front. They were driving from Virginia to Vermont and they had stopped in Jackson, New Jersey, near the Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park.

"Well, we wanted to stop here and stay the night and part of tomorrow so you could enjoy the park." Mrs. Smith explained to her daughter. "Also, your father wants to tell you something while we're here, as much as I don't want him to tell it to you."

"Why doesn't Mom want you to tell me whatever you're going to tell me?" the preteen wondered.

"Well, it's a sad thing and I think that since you're going to middle school, it's about time to explain it to you." Mr. Smith replied. He checked the time; it was 2:00 p.m. "Well, we've got a few hours in the park and just enough money to get in and maybe enough for a few rides and snacks."

Peaches' eyes lit up at the idea as her dad parked the truck and turned it off. She and her parents got out and walked up to the front gate, paid the admission, and went in.

(Flashback interrupted)

"Peaches, it seems that you indeed are a creation of Slipstream's and Thundercracker's, the only one as far as anyone knows." Ratchet explained a few minutes after the Pretender walked in, shut the door and sat down to hear the results.

"So that story won't be legend any longer?" Peaches asked, still a bit disbelieving but mostly relieved to know the truth.

"I will have to ask Optimus Prime about that one." The medic replied. "You shouldn't worry too much; you were raised by values similar to what Autobots believe in and I do not dislike you because of where you've come from."

"Thanks Ratchet." Peaches said, trying not to sheds any tears as she got up, walked to her room, and continued remembering her family's visit to Six Flags which was partially an extremely horrible time…

(Flashback resumed)

Peaches never liked bumper cars and didn't understand why her father was dragging her to them. Mr. Smith looked around, making sure that no employees were present, and then started explaining everything.

"Peach, where we're standing right now is the site of one of the worst amusement park accidents known." Mr. Smith said sadly. "I wasn't there the night it happened but I had been in the park the day before with your mother on a date and we went through this haunted house style attraction. It was tough to see in there and get through without hitting anything and by the time we got out, I was relieved."

The 11 year old didn't understand why that was important. "The stuff in there scared you? That's ridiculous!"

"No, it wasn't the special effects or the actors; it was the way the whole thing was built and the fact that your mother got lost and I had to go find her before we finally exited the place. I had been in there before and she hadn't." Her dad replied. "What happened the next day very well could have included either of us but we were at home when we heard about it on the news; the whole place caught fire. 8 kids got lost inside and didn't make it out. Some other kid with a cigarette lighter was later found out to be the cause and supposedly it was an accident but it didn't matter; the damage was done. The 2nd girl from that group of kids was carried to safety and was all right but lost her best friend and it took her a very long time to move on."

Mr. Smith continued explaining the story and about the concept of death to his young daughter, who now knew why she only had one grandmother and two grandfathers. Peach was shedding tears and then asked "Is this place haunted by those kids' ghosts?"

"Some say that it is but I don't know for sure." Her father replied, not sure of what he could say to make his daughter feel better. "most of the time when these things happen at a place that's meant to be fun, it's the guest's fault; only a few times has it been operator error or mechanical failure. I know you're smart enough to be safe on the rides here and to follow all the rules and things are different here today than they were at the time that that fire happened."

Peaches then asked "Are you going to pray for those kids' families?"

"I always pray for them every time I visit this town or pass by the towns where they live when we take the drive to see our other family members." Mr. Smith answered. "It's the only thing we can do. Remember this Peach; you can't change what's already happened but you can prevent something similar from happening again. Not that everyone learns from these things and actually does that." He sounded bitter when saying the last sentence as he was remembering the Station night club fire a few months earlier, as his daughter found out later that night. He then began saying a silent prayer.

Peaches looked over at the bumper cars and couldn't help but wonder did those kids make it heaven?  
>Why did it have to be them? They weren't doing anything wrong; they were just having a good time. Why was it that bad things always had to happen to good people?<p>

(End flashback)

Peaches still wondered this last question in the present time as she settled down onto her berth. She remembered her mother saying at the end of the day that her daughter was never to go to a nightclub no matter whether she was invited or not. The Pretender remembered the next day before leaving to continue on the trip with her parents when she picked a dandelion, blew the seeds off of it, and made a wish that those 8 kids who would remain eternal teenagers could someday finally rest in peace. She had felt a weird sensation just before leaving that sight and when she got into the truck her father was saying "I swear I heard several voices saying 'thank you Peaches' in both English and Spanish and then them saying 'stay safe'."

Peaches hadn't heard it and did not believe what her human father had said. Then again, Jazz had once said to her that no matter what you believe, the truth would never change. She tried to push these thoughts aside and had tried to recharge peacefully though unfortunately, she wouldn't succeed in doing so.

Author's note: I know Peaches' human parents, well her dad, seemed to be a bit cruel in telling her about a horrible thing in a place that's meant to great but I put that in there because Peaches' reaction was similar to mine when I read the book and watched the documentary about that real life fire. It's easier to put my feelings about things that happened for real in the stories that I post rather that talk about it for some weird reason.


	3. Chapter 3

Nightmare and shopping for a birthday gift

Sideways awoke to Peaches crying and shaking. "What happened?" he asked. He was extremely. worried about her

"I had a horrible nightmare." She replied through tears. "You were about to burn to death and you wanted me to get the girls safe but I couldn't leave you and Megatron was laughing evilly and mocking me for not joining his side-"

Peaches couldn't finish her sentence. The tears kept flowing down her face as Sideways scanned her and became even more worried. "Peaches, you're overheating!" he almost shouted.

"It's 1:00 a.m., do you expect me to go swimming and cool off?" she replied.

"No." the ex 'Con said. "I'll get Jolt; Ratchet needs his rest and doesn't need to worry about you again."

Sideways then left the room, running as fast as he could. He knew a Cybertronian going through an extreme body temperature change did not happen often, at least not as often as it happened to a human, and he just couldn't stop worrying until he knew what happened.

15 minutes later Jolt had come back with Sideways, and had assured the dark blue mech that the Pretender would be okay, she just needed to literally and figuratively cool off. Now the medic in training was leading Peaches to the washracks so that she could spray herself with cold water to start cooling down and Sideways had taken care of a now awake Abigail Jean Smith; he had changed her diaper and walked around with her for a while when he finally got her back to sleep and put her back in her crib.

Sideways started thinking of everything he and Peaches had gone through together; he knew that whatever was happening next in the Autobot-Decepticon war would prove a challenge but for right now, his sparkmate dealing with the news of her real origins seemed to be a bigger thing. Then again, he couldn't predict what his former teammates would o next even if he did know them well at one point. He tried to think of a way to get Peaches to be happy and by the time he was recharging again, Sideways had thought of several things that Peaches would love to have as a birthday present…

A few hours later, Peaches was cooled off and had been sleeping on the sofa in the rec room as she was too tired to go back to her own quarters. She awoke to the sound of footsteps going past the room and then outside. The orange and red femme got up and went to see who it was that had been going by. She walked out and to her surprise, sitting out there and watching the sunrise, was Optimus Prime.

"Good morning Peaches. I did not expect you to be up this early." He said.

"Good morning Optimus." Peaches replied. "You woke me up-sort of." She was unwilling to talk about what had happened the previous night.

"What do you mean by 'sort of'?" the Autobot leader asked.

"I had a nightmare, overheated and then Jolt had to cool me down and that took 2 hours and I finally got back to sleep at 3:00 a.m. I'd rather not give the exact details." The Pretender said, and then she started looking towards the east and was seeing the sunlight. "My human mom always said to me 'no matter what happens there are 4 things that remain the same; sunrise, sunset, what your loved ones will do for you no matter what, and the way the universe is always expanding'. Still, nothing can ever be completely the same after I came here more than a year ago and joined the team."

Optimus had to smile. Sure, Peaches wasn't his daughter but she treated Tai like a sister and the two girls tried to hang out together whenever they could. Not that it was easy with the former being allowed on the battlefield and the latter not getting to be there. The Pretender and technorganic would sometimes have to point this out as well as several other differences to the new Autobots whenever the new arrivals thought one was being a carbon copy of the other when that was not the case.

Peaches sighed. "Father's Day is coming up and I'll have to do something for Sideways every year until Abby and Crystal are old enough to make him cards and celebrate too." She stated sadly. 'I'm really missing my dad right now; he was the one who explained things my mom didn't want me to find out about. Like the idea of aliens actually existing, although that wasn't just him of course and uh, I'm going to go inside now." She then apologized for rambling on and ran back in to get some energon.

Later that day, she was once again telling Auri more of her story.

"It was a normal February day so it was cold but there was no snow on the ground." Peaches said. "I was driving myself to school and I had stopped to refuel my vehicle. I had just put the pump back and finished paying when I saw something that frightened me so much that I didn't know what to think…"

(Flashback, 2010)

Peaches knew that the two planes she was seeing were too close to the ground but they didn't crash. Rather, they seemed to shift into that of gigantic robots; that sent the 17 year old running to her car. She got in, started it and drove away as fast as she could, not caring that she was going about 20 miles over the speed limit. She then heard something that sounded like a gun shot, only much louder, then a few seconds later her car stopped.

Peaches groaned; this was no time to be dealing with a flat tire. She got out of the car and started running as fast as she could. She was sure she was going to wet her pants-

"Ramjet, I've got it!" someone shouted.

The 17 year old girl screamed as she was picked up by one of the two evil robots. She wasn't sure how high she was but once she looked down, she realized that she couldn't jump from where she was.

"Hey Skywarp, you ever play 'catch'?" Ramjet asked.

Skywarp threw Peaches to his partner; she screamed loudly. Just as Ramjet was about to toss her back to the other 'con, someone else grabbed her, put her on the ground, and told her to run and that he would handle those two "fraggers", whatever that word meant.

(End flashback)

"Oh, who was it?" Auri asked, getting more excited.

"It was Sideswipe; I did what he said and then I collapsed from all the shock." Peaches explained. "The last thing I remember was being put in the back of a hummer aka Ratchet and trying to be assured by the human soldiers that I would be safe soon before I slipped into unconsciousness."

The Pretender stopped right there; she wasn't sure if she could continue the story, especially considering how she had had so many mixed emotions upon waking up from that coma.

"Are you all right?" Auri asked. She was worried about her newest friend.

"Yeah; I just realized that it's time to feed Abby and Crystal." Peaches replied. She wasn't lying completely; it was 6:00 p.m., their dinner time.

Sideways then came in with the two girls, a bottle of energon and a bottle of formula, and two energon cubes for himself and his sparkmate. "Well ladies, how is everything going right now?" he politely asked.

"Everything's fine." Peaches lied. "We just want some family time right now. Auri, I'll tell you more of the story tomorrow, I promise."

"Okay then." The pink and orange femme left the family in peace and went to find Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

Peaches began feeding Abby the formula while Sideways let Crystal lie in his lap and grab the energon bottle from his hand so that she could hold it and feed herself. "She's growing up fast." The Pretender said and started smiling.

"Only slightly faster than Abby is." Sideways pointed out to his sparkmate, who was now staring at nothing in particular and not paying attention to the ex 'Con.

"Those poor kids….they couldn't get out of there…no one could save them…" the orange and red femme was saying. It was almost as though she were in a trance.

"What are you talking about?" Sideways asked, wondering what was going on.

Peaches suddenly snapped out of it. "That nightmare I had was because my dad told me about a theme park fire that happened when he was a teen." She answered. "He and my mom were in their early 20s when they adopted me." She then explained the story as her human father had explained it.

"Are you sure that that's not just some horror story?" Sideways questioned his sparkmate as he didn't believe the story that she had told and it really had sounded like the plot of a horror movie.

"Read a newspaper article from that time period, watch the documentary, read the book about it, it did happen!" Peaches yelled. "I would not lie to you! How would you have liked to be one of those parents of those 8 kids who never came home after a day of fun? Or the one who had to tell them 'yes, this is your kid's body' after they identified the victims? What if you were only one of the two employees in the attraction that were actually doing their job that couldn't save the kids because the body count would have been higher if they tried?"

The Pretender continued yelling similar statements, gave Abby to her sparkmate, and then finally screamed "You can take care of our kids but stay away from me for right now!" She ran to their quarters, knowing that someone had fixed the door for her, and then slammed it shut and locked it.

Sideways calmed down both girls, who were now crying louder than Barricade when he ran his police sirens when driving in vehicle mode down a human-made road, and then looked up the story that Peaches had told him just a few minutes before having screamed at him for being insensitive about the whole thing and running off somewhere. He then started to feel guilty; he had to do something to make this up to her, he had to.

Before he could think anymore, he saw Barricade walking into the rec room. The latter had heard everything and was now saying "Way to go smart aft; you made her yell louder than Tai does when she's angry with me."

"Leave me alone." Sideways replied, not caring what his former teammate had to say. He then picked up both Abby and Crystal, who were both still holding their bottles, and then he finished his energon cube and left the room. As he did, he started to search for something that Peaches would like as a birthday gift. It was going to be his way of telling her he was sorry.

He soon found what he was sure was the perfect gift; DVDs of Peaches' favorite Cartoon Network show _The Powerpuff Girls_ and the movie based on the show. He immediately typed in Ashley's credit card number in order to make the purchase; it wasn't too expensive so she wouldn't mind. Sideways then sat down outside, looking towards the ocean and letting a few tears run down his face...


	4. Forgiveness and karaoke night

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or the song "All that you are" which is going to be on the Transformers: Dark of the Moon soundtrack. I only own my OCs; the ones that are not mine belong to the authors who own them.

As Sideways sat down, he saw Elita One walking towards where he was looking at the ocean's waves going back and forth. Those were calm compared to how he was feeling at the moment.

"What did you do this time?" Elita asked, knowing that Sideways would always sit somewhere by himself after an argument with Peaches.

"I was a bit insensitive about an event that hit close to home for her human parents." The ex 'con replied, the tone of his voice giving away the fact that he was regretful.

At this point, Abby and Crystal were both reaching towards Elita, who happily took them carefully and held them.

Sideways finally said "I want to apologize to her but I don't think she's going to buy it."

"Why would you think that?" the femme who was Optimus Prime's sparkmate asked.

"She's right; I don't know what it was like for anyone who was a witness to or a part of that incident that she was talking about. That's what got her screaming at me for who knows how many minutes." Sideways snapped in a frustrated tone of voice. He then sighed again. Never before had he felt this much regret except when he had been unable to help Demolisher but that was another story.

"you're more stubborn than Optimus is when I try to get him to tell me what's wrong!" Elita stated in an exasperated tone of voice.

"Yeah, I know." the blue ex 'Con retorted.

Before he could say anything else, Optimus Prime walked up to them "Sideways, Peaches wishes for you to come inside; she's got a surprise for you and for Elita and myself."

Sideways got up and followed the Autobot leader and the femme inside to the rec room. He then remembered that tonight was karaoke night and that the time had been changed due to the fact that some of the Autobots would be going on a mission tomorrow as well as some of the human soldiers. Sideways sat down on the couch and saw Peaches already sitting there. "Peach, I'm sorry for being insensitive about what you were telling me earlier."

"I know." Peaches said sighing. "Anyways, I really wanted to do this for you for a while and here I go." She immediately stood up and walked up to the front of the crowd of humans and Autobots that had gathered around. She grabbed the microphone and said "This song is dedicated to 3 very special Cybertronians; Optimus and Elita and of course, my very wonderful albeit flawed sdparkmate Sideways. And yes, this means I forgive you before you ask, love."

Sideways was relieved. He then decided to listen as Peaches started singing a song that had recently been released as a single.

**And I feel all the faint morning light**

**Filled with hope 'cause you're here in my life**

**and we've gone from the edge of our souls**

**Made it back to a place we call home**

**You see me through **

**I was alone in the dark and the fear was my truth**

**Yeah, all the things that you are **

**Beautifully broken, alive in my heart**

**And know, that you are everything **

**Let your heart sing and tonight, we light up the stars**

**All that you are**

**I feel wrong, I'm so human and flawed**

**I break down even though I'm still strong**

**and time, will make fools of us all**

**Builds us up and then laughs when we fall**

**You pull me through when I'm alone in the dark and the fear is my truth**

Peaches was siinging the refrain again and Sideways didn't know what to think or feel right then. Elita handed him his two daughters back and the ex 'Con held Abby in his right hand and Crystal under his left arm. I'm really that important to her, he thought, wondering if it was true. Sure, Peaches would often talk to Optimus or Elita if she had a problem but there were times when she came to him or Jolt for help as well as to have fun. He couldn't stand the idea of the Pretender who was his only love being raised differently under a different name and not having been with her for life. He listened again as the orange and red femme started singing the bridge to the song

**You're the sound of redemption, the faith that I've lost**

**The answers I'm seeking, no matter the cost**

**You opened the window and now I can see**

**and you taught me forgiveness by giving your love back to me**

About a minute later when Peaches finished the song, she went back to the sofa and hugged Sideways and her daughters. She said "Sides, I forgive you but don't do that again."

"I'll try my best." he replied.

"Peaches, that was a wonderful song." Auri said, as she walked up to the Pretender.

"Thanks." Peaches replied. She felt a lot better not completely happy but she was fine. Screw whether her Cybertronian creators were alive or not, she had her real family right here; the Autobots, the humans, Barricade, Sideways, Tai, Devastator (to an extent),Crystal and Snowball. She hugged Optimus and Elita and they returned the favor.

"There's just one thing I'm worried about." Ashley said as she walked up to Peaches. "What are you going to do if the Decepticons find out that you were originally meant to be one of them?"

"I'll refuse the offer and fight to the death for everything that the Autobots stand for." the orange and red femme replied. "If they mind control me, that's another thing, although Wheeljack or Perceptor could try to figure something out to fix that."

"Whatever the Decepticons do next, we will be ready for it." Optimus Prime assured the Pretender. "You have come a long way as an Autobot and still have much to learn but I know that you can handle whatever is thrown at you."

Little did Peaches know that Soundwave had indeed overheard everything and reported it back to Megatron. It wouldn't necessarily be easier to get Peaches rather than Crystal to be forced into serving them but the 'cons knew that they could deal with it. It was only a matter of time before they put that plan into action...

Author's note: yeah, it's a little bit rushed but that's because I have a lot to do this week and I can already smell the popcorn that I want to have when I go to see Dark of the Moon later this week (I don't know if my siblings made some or if it's just me. XD). I don't know for sure if I'm going to be able to write a fanfic that deals with Peaches' POV of DOTM but that is one of the many ideas I have in my head right now.


	5. A plan goes into action

A plan goes into action

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or the OCs that belong to other authors; I only own my OCs.

The very next day, Peaches was sitting in the rec room with Abby and Crystal, who were playing on the floor. Auri was in the room too; the Pretender had been ordered to watch the 3 of them while nearly everyone else was in a meeting. The mission wasn't until later and she was prepared, so Peaches had some time to tell Auri more of the story about the former joining NEST.

"Basically when I woke up, Ratchet told me that I wasn't as badly injured as I could have been in that incident and that I'd been in a coma for about a day. I was allowed to put my clothes back on afterwards since they had just been washed and dried." The orange and red femme explained. "After I was finished getting dressed, including socks and shoes, my parents were allowed in to see me and my mom was crying tears of happiness while my dad thanked Ratchet for what he had done for me. Then when Optimus came in is when I really started feeling horrible once he and my parents told me what they knew to be the truth about where I had come from…"

(February 2010)

Peach was in her human form, and hugging her parents who had come to her bedside to see her. She then looked up to see Optimus Prime; immediately, she began to get a little bit scared.

"Don't worry about Prime; he's not going to bite." Mr. Smith said.

Peaches asked "Are you sure?" as she stood up and got off of the bed, still in a bit of pain but not letting it get to her.

"Indeed he is." Optimus Prime replied. "You do not need to be afraid of me, Paige; I would have already hurt you if that was my intention but it is not."

"P-please call me Peaches." The 17 year old stated, still a bit scared.

"Very well then 'Peaches'." The Autobot leader said, laughing just a little bit. "There is a lot that your parents and I wish to explain to you."

That was when he began explaining about what had happened up to that point in time; searching for the AllSpark, meeting Sam, the battle in Egypt, etc.

"Let me get this straight: you died, came back from the grave thanks to some college aged kid and some deus ex machina thing, and what happened in Egypt was covered up as well as what happened in Mission City?" Peaches asked, a bit skeptical.

"Ask anyone else here; we witnessed it." Ratchet replied from where he was working at his desk.

"How can that be true?" The teen still wasn't convinced; she always wanted something weird to make sense but the weirdest was yet to be heard...

(Present time)

"Peaches, what does 'deus ex machina' mean?" Auri asked.

"It means 'god in the machine' and it's basically when something is used to change the situation from what would logically happen, like say, the hand uncrushing a cartoon character that gets smashed." The Pretender answered.

"Oh." The pink and orange femme seemed to understand it a bet better. "What about what your parents told you?"

"Let's just say I was pissed off, shocked, sad, and confused." Peaches sounded a bit bitter as she remembered the feeling...

(February 2010)

"Are you saying, I'm one of these robots?" Peaches asked confused.

"All evidence collected from that site where your human caregivers found you seems to support this theory as well as what Ratchet discovered while treating your injuries." Optimus Prime explained.

The 17 year old was shocked as Ratchet explained what the test results were, how he was able to tell that her "blood" and various other body parts were not "real" human things and so on and so forth.

"Peach, we're sorry we didn't tell you sooner." Mr Smith said sadly.

"Sorry? That doesn't even cut it!" Peaches shouted angrily.

"We don't want to believe it ourselves." Mrs. Smith admitted.

The femme who had found out she was no longer human immediately ran out of the medical bay, mostly in anger but Optimus Prime could see tears on her face. Tears of feeling betrayed and not belonging. It wasn't surprising that she had handled it that way. Still, she was the same age Sam had been when the Autobots had come to Earth and he hadn't liked the idea of aliens existing either at first.

Peaches finally found her way to the beach to sit down and think, the first time she had done that and though she did not know it then, she would do this same thing when she felt like she wanted to get away in the months to come...

(Back to Present)

"I just sat there and cried, then I looked at my reflection in the water, and tried to transform. Fortunately, I was able to and I thought I looked a bit ridiculous and freaky but it didn't have an impact on whether I thought I was singing good or not when I started doing that." The orange and red femme admitted.

Auri had to get Peaches' attention because Jolt was coming in. The blue mech told them that the meeting was over and that Peaches had to take Crystal to get her systems cleaned by Ratchet.

"Can't believe I had to stop there, I was just about to get to the good part." Peaches muttered. "Oh well, I guess Jolt can tell you since he's a big part of the story from that point on."

"Oh, will you please?" Auri asked.

"Certainly." Jolt replied smiling as Peaches left the room with Abby and Crystal. He then sat down on the sofa and started explaining his side of what happened next.

"I saw Peaches running outside and I knew that I had to do something to convince her that being Cybertronian wasn't a bad thing..."

(Flashback)

Jolt had come outside and saw the teenage girl sitting on the sand and sobbing more than a sparkling. He went and sat down beside her; Optimus was busy today so the blue mech would just have to give it his best shot at comforting Peaches in his own way.

The 17 year old turned around. "What are you looking at?" she shouted.

"Peaches, it's not that bad being an Autobot." Jolt said. "No matter how you look at it, there's more to us than meets the eye whether we're humans, robots or something else. You'll get used to the craziness and Optimus Prime does genuinely care about everyone on this team and about all humans. Even a certain jerk named Theodore Galloway."

"How big of a jerk is this guy?" Peaches asked, suddenly interested and momentarily forgetting how terrible she felt.

"Bigger than his position I'd say." the blue Autobot replied. It was very tempting to laugh so he did, just a little bit. "Seriously though, even if you do join the team and he has an 'issue' with you not being raised by your own species, I saw screw it! He's closeminded compared to Optimus, Jazz and some of the other guys and girls around base."

The girl who now knew who she was started to think; should she really join the millitary? Was it too late for her to start learning about Cybertronian history and whatever else she needed to know to be an Autobot? Would she even have the guts to handle the 'cons the next time she encountered them?

"If you don't want to join us, Optimus Prime will understand." Jolt stated in a reassuring tone of voice. "He lets everybody make choices both really great ones and really stupid ones."

Peaches seemed somewhat relieved but unsure of what she wanted to do. Just before she could say anything though, the alarm went off. The Decepticons were attacking and anybody who was a civilian needed to be evacuated fast...

(End flashback)

"Oh, what happened after that?" Auri asked. She could almost swear she was hearing those same alarms right then and told Jolt so.

"I'll have to tell you later; you're not imagining these alarms right now because I hear them too." the blue mech said, just as Optimus announced something over the intercom.

"Code red! Decepticons have infiltrated the island! Report to your stations immediately!"

Meanwhile outside, Peaches immediately got up from where she was sitting and prepared to fight. She kept looking around trying to figure out where everyone was. Then, it happened. She was immediately grabbed and heard someone say in a scratchy "I've been smoking cigarrettes for years" kind of voice "Hello Peaches."

"Starscream you flying Dorito chip you!" Peaches shouted as she freed herself from his arms and began fighting with him. "Don't you dare say anything else to me."

"Shut up Pretender." the Decepticon second in command shouted back, punching her in the face.

Where this was going to go, no one knew but right now both of the Cybertronians were evenly matched.

Author's note: Yes, Movie Starscream and Transformers: Prime Starscream do sound like they've been smoking cigarettes for years (even though we don't know if Transformers smoke to begin with). If I had a better description to use, I would have put that instead but I didn't. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I did see Transformers: Dark of the Moon and enjoyed it. :)


	6. Chapter 6

Planning the rescue of Peaches

Half an hour later, the news reached Aurion-Blaze; Peaches had lost her fight with Starscream and had been taken hostage by the 'cons somewhere on the mainland United States. The other Autobots didn't have her exact location yet but they were trying to pinpoint it so that they could rescue her before it was too late.

"Auri" Sideways walked up to her. "I hope you don't blame me for anything that's happened to Peaches; I would never wish any harm on her or anybody else here."

"I know it's not your fault.' Auri replied sadly.

"Peaches said she never wants me to rescue her like she's some damsel in distress so Optimus is taking some of the other Autobots to 'negotiate' her release." The ex 'con explained. He then looked towards the horizon. "Her birthday's tomorrow and it would be a nice gift for her to be here with everyone she loves. Then she could finish telling you her story and maybe watch a movie or 2. It makes me wish all Cybertronians celebrated their creation days."

Sideways couldn't help but imagine the look on a human kid's face when he or she realized that they were another year older and that they had at least one day where they would get a lot of attention. He didn't care what kind of gift he would get if he celebrated his creation day but the ex Decepticon had seen the card that Peaches had made him for Father's Day today. It had read "To a wonderful husband and father to our girls, please keep being such and don't stop-Peaches". He had picked it up off the computer desk and read it, smiling. One day Abby and Crystal would understand why their parents did certain things but that was a long way off, as Peaches' return seemed to be…

Optimus had a good idea of where Peaches was. He, Elita, Ironhide and Ratchet had gone on this mission. Now it was a matter of what to do to get to her.

"No!" Elita gasped.

A few feet away from the Autobots there was a metal maze and it was on fire. They heard a faint call for help and it sounded exactly like Peaches' voice.

We will get you out of there safely, Optimus Prime thought to himself. "I will find her, the rest of you prepare for attack."

"Are you crazy? That's flammable material from Cybertron, not Earth! You could burn up in a matter of minutes!" Ratchet replied scanning it.

"Pity you might not have to worry about that soon." Starscream said, as he stepped out of the shadows with Dirge, Ramjet, and Skywarp. "If she makes it out of there alive, I might consider keeping her as my personal slave and if she refuses, the rest of you will be disintegrated to ash as well!"

Optimus Prime was furious. "You will not force Peaches to do what she does not wish to do as long as energon flows through my circuits. Autobots, attack!"

The Autobot leader then ran towards where he detected the Pretender's now fading energy signal.

Peaches didn't remember exactly waht happened but she had woken up feeling horrible. She had heard Starscream saying that there was no way that she could survive this little "chsllenge" and go back to teh Autobots once he and Soundwave were though with her.

Then the Pretender had smelled teh somke and had seen the flames. She knew that Soundwave had figured out that her worst fear was being trapped in a fire. She began thinking of people who had been in some of the most infamous fires and had not made it out alive: the Cocoanut Grove fire, the Six Flags fire that her dad had told her about, the Station nightclub fire, etc. This was how all of those people felt, she thought, as she tried to scan for an exit.

"Hold on Peaches, I'm coming!" a familiar voice called out.

Optimus, Peaches thought to herself as she passed out...

Author's note: I know it's short but I'm planning to do at least 2-3 more chapters to wrap everything up. Also, I am finally at my grandmother's house where there is wireless Internet instead of dial up. Yes!


	7. Chapter 7

Back to base

Peaches was completely unconscious by the time that Optimus ran into the burning maze, picked her up, and then ran out, the flams almost melting the armor around his legs. He handed the orange and red femme to Ratchet, and Elita and Ironhide worked to put out the fire that Starscream had started and the fire on Prime's legs.

"The 'cons themselves retreated. Stupid cowards are going to get it next time I see them" Ironhide muttered.

When all was said and done, they all returned to NEST base, Ratchet carrying Peaches to the medical bay and Optimus close behind him. The Autobot medic knew that Optimus would be fine; it was Peaches who was in a more serious condition and would need some encouragement to not blame herself for what happened once she was awake again…

Sideways was sitting in the rec room on the couch next to Auri, who was worrying about her friend and the Autobot leader.

"Auri, it's not your fault that Starscream is-well, a lot of things I'm not allowed to say in front of you." The ex-Decepticon said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Jolt walked into the room to make an announcement about both Autobots. "Optimus Prime's burns weren't too serious; he's been treated and released but Peaches needs another day to rest, possibly two."

"Thank you for informing us." Auri said, very relieved that her new friend would be okay.

"Come on Auri; it's about time you got some rest yourself or Ironhide's going to have my head." Sideways led the femme towards Ironhide and Chromia's quarters and opened the unlocked door to let her in.

"Goodnight Sideways." The femme said.

"Goodnight Auri." Sideways replied, walking out and closing the door behind him. He walked down the hall to his own quarters. He saw that Ashley had gotten Abby settled down to sleep and that the former was trying to calm Crystal down.

"I've got this." The blue mech assured his friend as he picked up his youngest daughter.

"How's Peaches?" Ashley asked.

"She'll live." Sideways sighed as he sat down on the berth and looked towards where Peaches would normally recharge.

"I know it sucks that you couldn't do anything for her but the important thing is that she's safe and sound right now." the human woman said putting her hand on one of his legs.

It was a very comforting touch, almost like that of an older sibling or parent. Then Ashley's tone changed to that of a "this is serious and you might be in trouble"-kind of tone. "Do you know anything about this?"

She showed him a list of credit card purchases; one was for DVD box sets and the other for one DVD of a movie.

"I only did it to get Peaches birthday presents I swear!" Sideways panicked and almost dropped Crystal but was able to grab her before she fell.

"You don't use someone else's money without their permission!" Ashley replied in an angry tone of voice. "Since it was for Peaches, I'll let it go this time but don't do it again, got it?"

"Got it" Sideways sighed again.

"Good." His human friend calmed down and left the room.

Sideways started singing a song he had heard on the radio to put Crystal to sleep. It was called "Little Wonders" and it was one that he felt described how he, Peaches and, when they were old enough, his daughters could learn to be there for each other and appreciate the not so ordinary things. When he had finished, the orange and blue femme with purple optics was recharging and Sideways put her in her crib. He then got onto his and Peaches' own berth; he'd visit her in the medbay tomorrow.

The next day came and Peaches was now awake. She yawned a little bit and looked around, finally recognizing the medbay.

"Optimus is all right in case you were wondering and you are very lucky he ran in and saved you like that." Ratchet said as he came over to her. "If you are up to it this afternoon, all of us Autobots have something to show you."

"I don't deserve any surprises." She said sadly. "I shouldn't have fought Starscream of all 'cons…"

"He'll get what he deserves someday." The medic assured her.

Soon, the Pretender had a visitor; she didn't see who it was at first but she looked when she recognized the song he was singing.

**Let it go, let it fall right off your shoulders don't you know the hardest part is over**

**Let it in, let your clarity define you in the end we will only just remember how it feels**

**Our lives are made in these small hours, these little wonders these twists and turns of fate**

"Sideways, that-I didn't even know you remembered that song!" Peaches said in surprise, interrupting her sparkmate.

"The movie it was in wasn't that good in my opinion but the song was." He replied, walking over to the berth that Peaches was on. He then pulled up a chair and sat down next to where his femme was. "Peach, don't blame yourself and don't feel worthless. I need you; Abby and Crystal need you too. Jolt, Auri, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Ashley, Tai, etc. what would they feel if they saw you like this too? There are reasons why you weren't raised as a Decepticon under a different name and these are just some of them."

"Optimus Prime has rubbed off on you." Peaches stated, not entirely convinced.

"Indeed I have but what he just said is very true." Optimus Prime himself had walked in. "It does not matter where you are from; your friends and family that are your teammates will never let you down no matter what the situation."

"Optimus, Starscream could have-" the orange and red femme wasn't sure how to say that the 2nd in command of the Decepticons could have forced her to go to her original programming.

"'Could've, would've, should've' doesn't matter either." He said, putting one hand on the Pretender's shoulder. "I am proud to have you on my team."

Peaches started feeling better. "Can I see Auri?"

"I will ask Prowl about that." Optimus answered, smiling.

As her leader and sparkmate left, Peaches settled down, not remembering what today was but wondering when she was going to finish telling Auri her story.


	8. Chapter 8

End of Peach's story and the surprise

Author's note This chapter is dedicated to the 6 fans who died last week when stage rigging collapsed at the Indiana state fair and good thoughts and well wishes to the 44 injured. Please keep the families of the deceased and the injurned as well as the duo Sugarland in your thoughts and prayers. No one should have to go what they went through one week ago. I only read about this a couple of days ago and I don't keep up with the news all the time (sorry about that).

Auri had now come in to visit Peaches, who was fully awake and telling her about the first time the latter had been captured by the Decepticons.

"Basically, I was grabbed by Starscream, knocked out, woke up and saw Scalpel, their so called 'medic' crawling all over me." The Pretender explained.

"What about after that?' the younger femme asked.

"Well, Scalpel was messing with certain body parts on a human that you just don't touch because it makes him or her uncomfortable; I'm not saying more. Ratchet can explain it to you when you're a bit older." Peaches said, remembering what it felt like. "Then Megatron along with Starscream, Soundwave, and Ramjet met up with the Autobots at a rendezvous point and-Jolt knocked Megatron over and grabbed me from his hands. I don't remember all of the battle but I do know that the blue medic in training thought my life was too important to be left in enemy hands and that the Autobots don't see differences that separate a normal Transformer from a Pretender or from humans; just the similarities."

Being very curious, Auri asked "Who won?"

"Well, who do you think won?" Peaches said, smiling and laughing. "I made it out of there safe and sound which everyone was thankful for but it wasn't the battle that changed my life; it was when I finally told my parents what I wanted to do now that I knew what I was but more importantly, who I wanted to be…"

(Flashback, 2010)

Back on Diego Garcia, Peaches was hugging her adoptive parents and was thanking the Autobots several times over. She then pulled away a little bit and said "Mom, Dad, I know you guys were scared for me and I just wanted to say that I want to learn how to defend myself against those guys but I also want to protect Earth."

"It's going to take a lot of training before you can get to that point." Ironhide stated.

"I know." The 17 year old replied. "I'm willing to put up with it though because I can't stand the idea of not being able to do anything against the Decepticons. Also, I know my parents can keep a secret."

"I always thought it was senseless to use violence." Her human mother said.

"Mom, it's just what V said in the movie _V for Vendetta_: 'Violence can be used for good'." Peaches sighed. "I can't stand the idea of using it either but if it has to be done, so be it. I want everyone on Earth whether they know it or not to be safe from something that they can't handle."

"Are you sure about this?" the man that Peaches had called "dad" her whole life asked.

"Yes Dad, I'm sure." Peaches said firmly. "Optimus Prime probably needs all the help he can get plus I can take the rest of my high school courses online. I won't be going to college but there's a lot of stuff that you can learn outside of school."

"Truer words could not have been spoken, Peaches." Optimus was smiling as he said this. "I would be honored if you joined my team."

(End flashback)

"It was hard to say goodbye to my parents but I did. I felt homesick but now NEST has become more like my home." The orange and red femme explained. "So, I finished my training, was formally made an Autobot, met Sideways and you know the rest."

Peaches then got up off of the berth, Auri looking concerned that her friend wouldn't be able to walk around.

"Do not worry Auri; Peaches is clear to leave the medbay and see her surprise." Ratchet said.

Both femmes went out, the younger one leading the older one to the darkened rec room.

"What is going on here?" the Pretender asked.

The lights came on, revealing balloons and ribbons that had been tied everywhere and a pile of presents stacked onto the right side of the big screen TV. The pile itself went up to Peaches' waist. There were also two tables; one with energon treats, one with human food. A lot of humans and Autobots came out, some saying "Happy Birthday!" others saying "Happy Creation Day!" which was basically the same thing.

Peaches was shocked. "No way...you guys did all of this for me?"

"It was Sideways' idea." Sideswipe explained, with a hint of newfound respect for his former enemy. "I was surprised when he asked us about it; that was what the meeting that you couldn't attend was about."

"Oh you!" Peaches ran over to Sideways and hugged him.

Everybody sang "Happy Birthday" to the Pretender and she and everyone else began eating whatever it was that was suitable for Autobots or humans. All too soon it was time for her to open her presents.

"Peaches, this is for you." Optimus Prime said, handing her a small present.

The orange and red femme opened the present; it was a DVD copy of _All Dogs go to Heaven_, her favorite non-Disney movie.

"Thank you Optimus." Peaches had a few tears on her face while giving her leader a hug. "This was the first movie my parents gave me for my birthday when I was 4; before that, I got toys every year."

"You can watch it now if you'd like." Elita One said.

The Pretender put the disk into the DVD player, and hit the "play" button as soon as the main menu came up. During the movie, she continued opening presents from her teammates; most were movies or stuffed animals but Auri's present was different.

"I bought these on the Internet because I know you've never gotten to go to a Disney theme park." Auri handed her friend the small box.

Peaches opened it; it was a pair of Mickey Mouse ears that she could wear in her human mode or give to Abby or Crystal later on.

"Auri, how did you-" Peaches started to ask.

"It's okay; I helped her with getting it." Major Lennox said.

"Phew." Sideways sighed with relief. He had already seen Ashley angry once tonight and he did not want to see it again any time soon.

"Thanks Auri." Peaches hugged her.

When the movie ended, Peaches took it out and the party wound down. Sideways and Jolt helped her carry all of her presents into her room and they were set on some shelfs. The Pretender could rearrange it later. She then went back into the rec room and sat down on the sofa.

"Peaches, what was that song that was playing on the ending credits?" Auri asked.

"Well, it's a song my parents loved and allegedly, it was written for Judith Barsi." Peaches replied. "she was the voice actress who played the character Ann Marie; she and her mother were murdered by her father, then he killed himself."

Auri was completely shocked, not able to imagine how horrible it was.

"She was only 10 years old too." Peaches let a few tears fall down her face. "In short, she's the young female counterpart to James Dean, another actor who died young."

"How could anyone do that?" the pink and orange femme asked, slightly angered and not understanding it.

"I don't think anyone will ever know" The Pretender sighed. "but that story is one reason why I want to help kids who come from a horrible home situation and let them know that someone out there cares for them."

Peaches said. "This is for my parents and my cousin and for anyone else no longer with us." She then started singing that song for Auri so that she could hear all of it and soon enough everyone else on base was coming back in to listen to it as well.

**Now I know you're safe here in my heart**

**You'll always be with me, we'll never be apart**

**I never knew how strong my love could be**

**You're the one I waited for, now you're home I believe**

**Love survives beyond our lives, I feel those times growing stronger**

**Love survives the tears we cry yes love survives it all**

**Love survives it all**

Sideways came up and gave Peaches a hug because she had stopped singing due to crying so much. "Need some help to finish it?"

"Please do." she replied.

Then the ex-Decepticon started singing with his sparkmate.

**Even when we want to run and hide, love comes in to pull us through**

**from deep inside**

**Oh, the magic has made us who we are**

**Don't you see we've come this far**

**Take my hand, you'll understand**

**Love survives beyond our lives **

**I feel those times growing stronger**

**Love survives, the tears we cry**

**Yes love survives it all**

After singing the refrain a third time, Peaches and Sideways sat back down on the sofa, both in tears.

Aurion-Blaze told them "That's a very beautiful song."

"Especially since it's from a good movie. Curse anybody who harms kids for no reason!" Peaches screamed .

Optimus Prime walked over to the couple and then wrapped up Peaches in a hug.

"Optimus, I know this is a stupid question but how much did it hurt when you died?" the Pretender asked.

"More than anyone else could imagine but only for a short time." he replied. "Your human parents were fortunate to not have been in any pain when Starscream killed them."

"It hurts just as much for the people left behind though." Peaches couldn't control herself as she started sobbing again. "I know you're going to have to go permanently one day and I don't think I'll ever be ready for that."

"Neither will the rest of us Peaches." Elita said as she walked over to the young Autobot. "We will enjoy the time we still have with him and everybody else on this team though. It is all we can do."

"I know but it's just, I never understood why my parents had to go the day after my birthday." the orange and red femme said, feeling very mournful all over again.

"Whatever the reason is, it had to be a good one. You probably would not have met Sideways or Sam, Mikaela, Miles, and Leo if it hadn't happened." Jolt said. "I wouldn't have a good friend and Auri wouldn't have someone like you to be almost like an older sister to her."

Peaches thought of this and then was able to calm down long enough to say "Thank you all of you, not just for the surprise party but being here when I need you the most. That's the best present anyone can give me."

Auri hugged Peaches again and soon everyone else wanted to hug the Pretender (except of course for Galloway and Devastator). Even Barricade, Sideways' ex-teammate gave her some encouragement by saying "You're really something for an Autobot. Not enough to get any respect out of me just yet but you're getting there."

Peaches smiled "Gee, thanks." she said, almost sounding sarcastic but in reality actually meaning it.

Peaches no longer thought about who she would have been otherwise; she was content with being herself and knowing the Autobots and humans that were on the NEST team even if she had to go through some tough times before meeting them.

"Happy Birthday Peaches and may you always be a valuable member of our team." Optimus Prime said."I believe that what you were singing is true; love does survive it all."

Author's note: I decided this was the best ending I could come up with and I think it turned out really well.


End file.
